Bible Strands
1 Kings 19:8
So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The angel of the LORD commands the despondent Elijah to rise and eat so he can endure the journey. Elijah obeys and travels to Horeb, the mountain of God, before entering a cave where God will address him.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיָּקָם (va/yāqom) denotes Elijah’s physical rising, while בְּכֹחַ הָאֲכִילָה הַהִיא (bəḵōaḥ hāʾăḵîlâ hazzōʾ) literally means "in the strength of that food." These terms emphasize the tangible, physiological basis of his endurance.
The thread — This forty-day journey to Horeb parallels Moses’ forty days and forty nights on the same mountain without eating or drinking (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:18). Both figures traverse to the mountain of God to encounter divine revelation.
Why it lands — The text records Elijah’s physical sustenance enabling a prolonged journey to a sacred location, without attributing the strength to supernatural intervention. Readers are presented with a straightforward account of obedience and endurance preceding divine encounter.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.
Cross-references
- Exodus 34:28 So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
- Deuteronomy 9:18 Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.
- Exodus 3:1 Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
- Exodus 24:18 Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
- Matthew 4:2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.
- Malachi 4:4 “Remember the law of My servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him for all Israel at Horeb.
- Mark 1:13 and He was there for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered to Him.
- Luke 4:2 where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- Exodus 19:18 Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.